STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Ever wonder whatever happened to Eddie Joyce, the basketball star from Tottenville High back in the day?

Well, a lot has happened since they retired his jersey number back in 1995. He graduated from Harvard and Georgetown University Law Center. He got married and fathered three daughters.

Oh yeah, and he just published what esteemed critics are calling the best book ever written about Staten Island.

To be blunt: "Small Mercies" is not about the stereotypical S.I. we're usually fed by pop culture pundits. No tanning beds. No nail salons. No mob wannabes.

Using a layered "time jump" narrative, told over the course of one week, Joyce's debut novel masterfully depicts an Italian-Irish American family on S.I. and their complicated emotional history.

Here's the plot in a nutshell: "10 years after the loss of Bobby -- the Amendola family's youngest son -- everyone is still struggling to recover from the firefighter's unexpected death on 9/11. Bobby's mother Gail; his widow Tina; his older brothers Peter, the corporate lawyer; Franky, the misfit; and his father Michael have all dealt with their grief in different ways. But as the family gathers together for Bobby Jr.'s birthday party, they must each find a way to accept a new man in Tina's life while reconciling their feelings for their lost loved one."

Joyce recently took the time to chat with me about the book Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo ("Empire Falls") hails as a "terrific first novel so American that the story might as well have taken place at the base of the Statue of Liberty."

More than anything, "Small Mercies" is a tender portrait of one family's struggle to make peace with the death of a loved one. Sure, it has some raw moments but it really flies in the face of popular S.I. stereotypes. That's the reaction I hoped for. It really aggravates me -- it's always aggravated me -- how Staten Island is portrayed in mainstream media, TV, movies and especially reality TV shows.

They go for the lowest common denominator.

I set the book on Staten Island because it was a place whose stories need to be told. There are a million books about Manhattan and a half-million about Brooklyn. The Bronx has its bards. Even Queens has gotten some love lately.

Why not Staten Island?

I wanted to be fair but also to include some warts. It was more important to be real than to be flattering -- but I just happen to think the real is pretty flattering.

My goal was to capture how it really is. I don't think a lot of people understand what it's like.

Staten Island is always the butt of the New York joke. I wanted to tell a more complete story about the people I grew up with. Yes, they may be flawed -- who isn't? -- but they have a resiliency and even a kind of grace that is often overlooked.

I wanted to show all their beauty, all their pain, all their strengths, all their sins. To give voice to people who are exiles in their own city.

So, I don't have to ask if you are a "Jersey Shore" or "Mob Wives" fan? Staten Island really is a goldmine for reality TV characters. Do you remember MTV's "True Life?"

I went to high school with Charlie Balducci [editor's note:Currently the director of NYC Arts Cypher, a non-profit in Stapleton, Balducci was once notorious for his "Gut you like a fish" monologue). He was playing a character; it was an outsized portrayal of a Staten Islander.

Charlie was hamming it up, I'm sure, but now that's the impression most people have of Staten Island. It's ridiculous, I think. It's so slanted and such a stereotype that it ends up being offensive.

It doesn't capture the whole picture of what Staten Island is. I wanted to show a real family in all its messy glory.

Gotta ask the 'Peyton Place' question: Is 'Small Mercies' a thinly veiled expose of hometown drama? Are the characters based on real-life Islanders? The honest truth is they're really not. Yes, my mom taught at Farrell and there are certain situations in my family or other families that come out in the book.

But no one character is specifically based on one person. Gail is definitely some of my mom -- but there are some other strong, smart women I grew up around on Staten Island in there, too.

I tried not to write too close to biography but with enough of the grain of reality so that it feels real.

'Small Mercies' will strike a chord with many Americans, especially those who lost loved ones on 9/11. Were you hesitant to include it in the book? It was not a decision I made lightly. I thought about it at the outset and revisited the question many times.

A few times, I even considered changing the nature of Bobby's death: Maybe he could have died in a random fire. Maybe his death could have been purely accidental, entirely unrelated to his job as a firefighter. But those seemed like safe choices, like deliberately ignoring the elephant in the room because it might be difficult to write about.

(It's) embedded in the psyche of Staten Island; 274 residents were killed on 9/11. I don't think it's hyperbole to say that every person on Staten Island knew someone who was killed on 9/11.

... So, when all these 9/11 novels were coming out, I kept waiting for the one that was going to tell the stories of those people ... and finally, I thought, 'maybe I should tell this story.' Which was pure, utter hubris. But that's writing in a nutshell: pure hubris.

What do you think would surprise outsiders most about S.I.? Of all the boroughs, it 'feels' the least like New York City. On the other hand, you'd be hard pressed to find truer New Yorkers ... There's a streetwise sensibility that pervades the entire borough.

These are mostly working class and middle class people who have lived through the best and worst days of NYC, never getting their full share of the best and taking the brunt of the worst.

These are people of contrary qualities: tough but kind-hearted, brusque but neighborly. And despite the rapidly growing population, Staten Island still feels like a small town. Most people still read the Advance ... the high schools all play each other. And it's an island, which heightens the insularity in ways good and bad.

So, basically it's like a small town filled with sarcastic, streetwise New Yorkers. Heaven.

From Gail's Sicilian cooking lessons as a young bride to an impromptu date night at Denino's, food culture plays a potent role in the book. Were you afraid of drawing a line in the sand with what I call the 'pie' hards?

I am part of the Denino's tribe (laughs). I come from a Denino's family -- but I tried to give a little bit of love to all of them.

Friends from Staten Island who live near me in Brooklyn are Joe & Pat's fans all the way, so we have arguments about it. When someone from Brooklyn tries to weigh in, we turn on them and let them know -- without question -- that 'BOTH are better than whatever place you just mentioned.'

The famous places: Lee's, Nunzio's, Joe & Pat's, Brothers; all of them are fantastic. Denino's happens to be my favorite. I grew up going there after playing at the CYO Center, so some of it's nostalgia.

I like old-school Italian joints, places that have been around for a while. Two of my favorites are Trattoria Romano and Basilio's Inn.

... There's some great, non-Italian food as well: Duffy's has a great burger and waffle fries. Schaffer's Tavern is an institution. Killmeyer's has great beer and German food. Real Madrid is a great throwback Spanish place. Keep it simple: paella and sangria.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the newly opened Flagship Brewing Co. ... Great beer run by Staten Island guys. They have a cool tasting room within walking distance of the ferry.

I know (co-owner) Matt McGinley. We played high school ball against each other. Yeah, I hope those guys kill it.

Ah, you mentioned CYO and high school basketball. Have you seen the Advance/SILive archive shots from your record-setting heyday?

(Laughs) 50 pounds ago, probably. Yeah, I love Staten Island high school basketball. It's the perfect blend of small and big town.

"Small Mercies" is very cinematic. I could easily see it on the big screen or in one of those new "limited event series" formats. Have you allowed yourself to do any fantasy casting? Well I should say that I haven't sold the film rights yet, but of course you daydream. I think of various people who could portray these people in your wildest dreams. I think a lot about Gail, since she's the center of the book. In a crazy world it's a role maybe Julianne Moore could fill.

It's so random: I play in a pickup game -- I still play basketball when I can -- with (Julianne Moore's) husband (laughs). He's such a down-to-earth, regular guy. For the first six months I didn't even know who he was married to.

And Amy Ryan from "The Wire" and "The Office" is an amazing actress, too.

So, yeah, I have thought about it -- but I try not to fantasize too much.

Your book is so good we have to forgive you for bailing on us for Brooklyn. How often do you make it back to S.I.? I'm usually there a couple times a month: To take the kids to the Staten Island Zoo, to play golf or meet friends for lunch, to pick up ravioli, and, of course, to eat pizza.

Big things are going down here. Do you keep up with S.I. news? Yeah, I keep tabs. I follow the Advance on Twitter.

Any thoughts on the much ballyhooed New York Wheel? I'm going to wait and see what happens. I don't necessarily know how to feel about it. I'm a little skeptical that people are gonna take a free ferry ride over and pay 40 bucks to go up in a wheel and see the same views they see on the way over.

It never quite made sense to me that the area near the ferry didn't become a little bit more developed in some ways. I thought it would be another Hoboken or something like that. I've been hearing for 25 years, since I was a kid, that 'St. George is coming back.'

Like a lot of people I have mixed views of progress.

You can't live in the past entirely, but at the same time do I think some zoning laws and development with a little respect for the past could be useful? Absolutely.

It's a balance and I hope there is some economic development by the ferry in an appropriate manner. I hope it brings jobs and opportunities.